**OFFICIAL RICHARD MILLE PIC THREAD (and daily snap shots)**

[jschmidtdmd]

Originally Posted by mspeed76

its a bit alarming the direction that they are heading...

showing little regard to the long term intrinsic value of their core product line.

however they don't sell many pieces.. so maybe they do know what they're doing. like creating those 1-10 piece limited editions

but Panerai did the same thing to their fan base and look how that worked out..

I will agree and disagree.

RM's release and cross pollination of materials is much different than Panerai's approach. Panerai took multiple very popular limited edition watches that collectors lusted for; IE the PAM127 and flooded the market with similar regular edition pieces. None of these pieces sold and the aftermarket prices of the original LE's collapsed as a result. (All of these LE's were initially selling at premiums)

I used to be a huge Panerai fan but completely exited the brand when this started to happen. These new releases were not popular, they sold at huge discounts. They damaged initial adopters to the brand as well as the excitement around the brand.

The exact opposite is happening with RM.

I will agree that RM is recycling their popular materials across models and while they may not be creative, they are still new.

Couple this with extremely limited production and the fact that the brand is shipping almost no watches allows this model to be VERY successful.

Most parties who want to walk into a boutique or AD have little to no shot to purchase an item. Even worse, the brand cannot provide a time frame as to when a piece may become available to a full price paying customer. (As a result buyers are getting frustrated and getting their deposits refunded)

I hate to say it, but I panicked late last year and sold WAY too many RM's because I too felt this "Panerai" effect. In retrospect it was a horrible decision. All of the pieces I sold are worth more today and reacquiring them would be a gigantic undertaking.

RM is by far the smartest brand selling watches right now and the secondary market of these pieces clearly support that statement. Like the watches or not, comparable brands at this price point aren't even close to holding their sale prices.

Over the course of the last month I cannot tell you how many calls/texts I received asking if I would sell ANY of my RM watches. To be honest, I have never seen anything like this while collecting.

JPS